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It happens every year. You don't have any plans for Halloween, you decide to stay in to watch scary movies and eat more than half the bowl of candy for trick or treaters. However, you get a call inviting you to this big fun bash with all your friends. It is Halloween night and suddenly you need a costume and fast. The costume shops are picked clean or closed; now your costume is completely dependent on your own resourcefulness. Whether you need a last minute Halloween costume because you were invited to a last minute party or just don't feel like spending that hard earned cash on a costume, here are some great last minute Halloween costume ideas.

Zombie

You don't need to spend a fortune on zombie makeup to go as a zombie. These days, realistic zombies are all the rage. Anyone with makeup, red food coloring, syrup and a shirt they don't mind ruining can go as a zombie. Simply put on the clothes that you don't mind getting all bloodied up, maybe rip a few sleeves and the clothing part of your costume is done. Go to your makeup bag, or your ladies makeup bag, if you are a man, and find the dark brown or black eye shadow. Most ladies will have at least some of that on hand, if not; it is easy to get at the store even on Halloween. Place dark circles under and over your eyes with the black closest to the eyeball and brown further away to give the eyes that sunken in look. You can also add the brown under the cheekbones to give a gaunt appearance.

Now go into the kitchen and break out that red food coloring and syrup. You can also use corn syrup, but regular pancake syrup gives a darker look to the blood, making it more realistic. Mix in some red food coloring into the syrup until it is nice and dark. You can put this wherever you want to. A little on the shirt, a smear near the mouth, even a drip down the face will make a convincing zombie without being too sticky. Just try not to give too many hugs.

For those planning ahead, these face wounds work wonderful if sticky syrup isn't your thing.

Christmas Tree

Planning on being a wallflower at this last minute Halloween party? Well then go as the ultimate wallflower tree--the Christmas tree. Put on your finest green clothes and dig those Christmas lights out of the basement. I'll be honest here, the bulk of this costume prep will come from untangling those lights, but hey, in two months it'll be useful! Who am I kidding? They'll have re-tangled by then.

Anyway, wrap the Christmas lights around yourself and head out.

Credit: Artist Unknown -From 9Gag

Hipster / Homeless Person

This is another easy costume without all the potential stickiness of a zombie. The homeless person costume and hipster costume is essentially the same thing. Hipsters wear endless layers of shabby looking clothes for fashion; homeless people do it for necessity. The major difference between them is that hipsters are seriously dedicated to color coordination. There you go; I just gave you a good joke for your party.

Anyway, go to your closet and pick out the shabbiest things in there. Winter coats, army wear, flannel, scarves, gloves, and hats. If you're a hipster, find some clothes that match, if you are going as a homeless person, do the opposite. Men should skip shaving for the day and women should either rough up their hair or do it up real nice. Hipster will require a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.

iPad

This costume basically requires a printer and a stapler or some strong tape. Go onto the internet and search iPad app icons on Google Images. This should spit out plenty of the app icons in reasonable sizes. Paste them into an image program or print them right off the web and cut them out.

Now pick out your finest all black outfit and either tape or stable the app icons on there. The stapler makes them sturdier, but will also leave little holes in your clothes. So it's a trade off. Now head out and prepare to have everyone pushing your buttons all night.

The Dreaded 404 Error

This is a costume for those that want to be cheeky and cheap all at the same time. The 404 error is among one of the most frustrating errors on the internet, it is where content no long exists or otherwise cannot be found by the server. All you need is a white tee shirt that you don't need anymore and a black sharpie. Take the sharpie and write "Error 404," then under that write, "Costume Not Found." Viola! You are ready to party all night.

Credit: From Kingdom of Loathing

Stick Figure

Another simple and actually pretty awesome costume. However, to work well it does require owning white pants and a white shirt. Simply lay out the white clothes on the bed, front side up and take some electrical tape and tape lines from the sleeve all the way up to a central strip of electrical tape. You can draw a smilie face on a piece of paper and wear it on your face for the night or just go with your extremely detailed human face as a head. This is a great costume for those that need a quick fix and don't want to ruin their clothes as the electrical tape comes off clean.

Ladies Beauty Sleepwear

This costume is strictly for the ladies, really. Men can pull it off, but it works best on women. All those women out there can show what they would be doing if they weren't at this party by putting the stereotypical beauty sleepwear on. Put old school roll curlers in your hair, put on your finest bath robe and smear on some face mask (preferably one that won't burn if stays on.) You should probably wear some pajamas under the robe, but other than that, ladies in need of a quick costume are ready to go.

Bouncer

Now for a costume that is usually for men, but ladies can pull it off too. All men need to do is put on their finest suit with a black shirt and a black or red tie, add some sunglasses and throw in an ear piece if they happen to have it around. Now they are a tough as nails club bouncer. Bald heads go well with this costume, but some nicely brushed hair works just fine. For added believability, get a clip board, stand at the door and comment on the shoes of the party guests you don't let in. Do note that this also works for FBI/CIA agent as well.

Mummy

This is an old classic, but has oddly died out in recent years. This is the ultimate easy costume for those that keep a small stock pile of toilet paper around. Just take a roll or two and wrap it all around your body. It's probably best to use one ply just to not be too terribly wasteful. This is probably not the best costume option when going to a party full of the environmentally friendly; they might end up hating you.

Party Animal

The ultimate Halloween party costume. You're going to a party, everyone loves a party animal. Load yourself out with animal ears and maybe a tail, then put on a party hat and keep a noise maker on hand. However, with great costume comes great responsibility. For the party animal costume to be believed, you need to head to this Halloween bash and have some fun. I hope you are up to the task.